September 17, 2025, 11:41am

Is Emmy award winning show The Pitt ripping off ER? Michael Crichton’s estate is claiming that it has, and a judge has given the go-ahead for the issue to go to trial. Scrub up, lawyers.

This is about more than just the fact that both shows follow hunky emergency room doctors, star Noah Wyle, and are produced by John Wells. Sherri Crichton, Michael Crichton’s widow and the head of the production company that protects Crichton’s estate, claims she was approached in 2022 about an ER reboot. She claims that this planned reboot became The Pitt, which cut her and the estate out. As per the late Crichton’s contract with Warner Brothers, he or his estate has to be paid and allowed to creatively weigh in on any reboots or spin-offs of ER. But Sherri claims that when negotiations didn’t pan out, the re-ER-boot became The Pitt, “without any attribution or compensation for Crichton and his heirs.”

Vulture and The Times have longer write ups on the nitty gritty of the complaint and the supposed, planned reboot. Apparently the pitch was pretty similar to what The Pitt became, so much so that the Crichton estate claims it amounted to a mere “rebrand.”

The folks at The Pitt are contesting this, though they can’t say much given the ongoing litigation. Actor Wyle and producer Wells have said their show “is not in any way related to ER”, citing specifically how different the main doctors are. Wyle also said that he’s “profoundly sad and disappointed” by this legal tangle, and afraid that “this taints the legacy.”

WB tried to have the estate’s motion dismissed, but a judge ruled that the case can go on, saying that “the Court cannot find Plaintiffs claims to be totally meritless.” I like to imagine the judge got to binge a lot of TV while putting together this ruling—“I just have to make sure I’m getting this right,” while all the other judges are rolling their eyes.

For now, no trial date has been set, so we’ll have to get comfy in the waiting room.